“Credit to Penn State, I thought they played hard tonight”, head coach Steve Aird said.
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Golden filled in pretty nicely on the field, too, for Lucas, finishing with eight tackles.
MI – which improved to 9-2 on the season – hosts rival Ohio State next Saturday. The punting game was good enough and Tyler Davis looked good on field goals. With speculation he might leave Penn State to enter the NFL Draft next season seemingly always surrounding him, Hackenberg made it clear he was thinking more about his teammates in that emotional moment. Many of them, decked out in white, waited until the junior quarterback – who might’ve played his last snap at Beaver Stadium – exited the field for the final home game of the season.
“It was a phenomenal return”. He was competing like a maniac and refusing to go down.
In the third quarter, DeAndre Thompkins fumbled a punt that Michigan’s Jehu Chesson recovered at the Penn State 9 to set up a touchdown run by the Wolverines’ Sione Houma.
Christian Hackenberg has been disappointing this season and he threw 21 of 40 for 205 yards with no TDs and one INT, accumulating a poor passer rating of 21.4. “It’s everything. It’s kicking”. Hackenberg led the team all the way inside the five-yard line with a 38-yard pass to Chris Godwin.
Hackenberg finished the contest 13-31 for just 137 yards. While the Wolverines still couldn’t run – 87 total yards, 39 from the true tailbacks – they still were able to move the ball for 343 yards. “We were getting knocked back into the backfield, and by the time the ball carrier got the ball, there was somebody in his face”. Seven minutes later, Clare Pleuler gave the Terriers their best offensive opportunity in the first half during a one-on-one with Penn State keeper Britt Eckerstrom, but Pleuler’s shot went right to Eckerstrom. U-M scored touchdowns in three of four red zone trips, which was the difference. “It was a thing here or there”.
Defensively, the Lions allowed two long completions on third-and-long situations, enabling MI to sustain two long touchdown drives in the first half.
-QB Jake Rudock had one of the top all-around passing games in MI history against in when he passed for a career-best 440 yards and a school-record six touchdowns. MI could come close, but the call is that it’ll lose to Ohio State, and Northwestern at 10-2 – it’ll beat IL – will come really, really close.
Brandon Taylor led Penn State with 14 points.
Kendall Pierce remembered exchanging glances with her teammates, knowing if they could break the tie and get a few more points that it would slow down the game.
A MI win in combination with an Ohio State win today turns next week’s edition of The Game into a de facto Big Ten East Championship Game with the victor earning a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game, likely against Iowa. Twilley and Elliott posted late kills as the Terps tried to kick-start their offense, but Penn State took the set, 25-13, and the match. “We talk about it all the time”. 3 and 4 over one-loss Notre Dame and Oklahoma teams. “We knew it was a grind-out game and we accomplished that”.
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“I just think we out-toughed them tonight”, Gill said.
